So how did it all start?
In 1930 a group of Round Tablers' wives met together in Bournemouth to help their husbands organise the 1932 Round Table National Conference. Having enjoyed the meetings and their increased involvement, when the conference was over they agreed to continue to meet, and they decided to call themselves LADIES' CIRCLE. This was how the first Circle was born. During the next few years a few additional isolated groups of Tablers' wives got together and by 1936 eight Circles had formed in Bournemouth, Manchester, Hastings, Liverpool, Middlesbrough, Wolverhampton, Doncaster and Southampton. In 1936 it was felt the time had come to form a National Association and despite some teething problems in drawing up a workable constitution, NALC was born.
The early Circlers were not necessarily Tablers' wives, nor were they necessarily young, as there was neither a membership rule or a retirement rule. Circlers might be Tablers' mothers, sisters, family friends as well as wives. Meetings were quite formal with members addressing each other as Mrs or Miss, as the case may be, and although this format is a million miles away from the relaxed way in which Circle meetings take place now, these ladies were the pioneers of our organisation. Circle managed to survive the war years although activities and growth were drastically curtailed, but the Association expanded very rapidly in the post war years - the first Circle in Wales being formed in 1955 in Cardiff, the first Circle in Scotland in 1956 in Dumfries, and the first in Ireland in 1959 when Enniskillen Circle was formed.
It was felt in 1949 that the Association was becoming difficult to administer in its format at that time, and therefore in 1950 an Area structure was introduced with the first ten Areas being established. These were swiftly followed by new Areas resulting from the sub-division of the original ten, until eventually 55 Areas were formed - at present there are 47 Areas, some Areas having merged.
In the early days the National Association was administered entirely by the elected National Executive Officers. However, by 1958 the Honorary Secretary could no longer cope with the workload and the post of Honorary Secretary was abolished and in its place a new position of National Secretary was introduced. A National Secretary was appointed and she worked from her home for six years performing the tasks of both an honorary and a 'professional' secretary. In 1964 the Association's first General Secretary was appointed and the position of National Honorary Secretary was re-introduced. A Headquarters Office was established in Stafford but in 1965 a new General Secretary was appointed, and the office was moved to Keighley in West Yorkshire, where it has remained. NALC occupies the whole of the second floor of Provincial House in the centre of Keighley and in the minds of many Circlers, the name Keighley is now synonymous with that of NALC.
The governing body of NALC is the National Executive which consists of 6 elected National Officers who are ultimately responsible for the administration of the Association, and in addition there is a National Council comprised of the National Executive and the Chairmen of the 47 Areas. This Council is a forum which represents the views of all members, and makes policy decisions. Each Area has its own elected Executive and each Circle has a Chairman and other elected officers. Circles are autonomous in arranging their own programme of events.
Over the years NALC members have worked to support numerous local, national and international charities. In 1958 NALC voted to adopt The Imperial Cancer Research Fund (now merged with Cancer Research Campaign and known as Cancer Research UK) as a national charity and it remains the only charity which receives support from the Association as a whole. In 1993 NALC was proud to announce that over the years they had donated over £1.4 million to Cancer Research UK. In line with the modern image, Circlers raise funds for Cancer Research UK in a variety of interesting and active ways by means of events such as sponsored abseils, long-distance bike rides, assault courses etc.
The National Association of Ladies' Circles of Great Britain and Ireland is also a founder member of Ladies' Circle International, which has 21 full member countries and 12 associate member countries situated around the world.